SciDev.netA new genetic test for tuberculosis (TB) could dramatically improve the accuracy of diagnoses of infected children in developing countries, although a simple diagnostic kit could be some way off. [Read More]

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a social media campaign to raise awareness about the critical impact of, and ongoing need for, global maternal and child survival efforts. The campaign, 20 Days of Action for #MomAndBaby, marks the two-year anniversary this month of two USAID child survival campaigns (Call to Action and A Promise Renewed), and leads up to their high-level forum, Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths, June 25, 2014 in Washington, DC. [Read more]

Thursday, June 26, 2014 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM EDTFamily planning contributes to healthier children and mothers, but more than 200 million women worldwide have an unmet need for modern contraceptives. At the London Summit on Family Planning in 2012, leaders of 150 countries and international organizations embraced the significant goal of expanding access to family planning information and services to an additional 120 million women by 2020. However, there are significant challenges to making contraceptives more widely available and accessible, including a lack of reliable monitoring and data collection mechanisms. Better data and monitoring are critical to hold donors, governments, and service providers accountable. [Read More]

The systematic tracking of contraceptive security (CS) indicators can be an effective way for in-country stakeholders to regularly monitor their country's CS status to inform decisionmaking, advocacy, and program planning. It also provides an opportunity for stakeholders to look at trends across countries related to the five component areas measured: leadership and coordination, finance and procurement, commodities, policies, and supply chain. [Read More]

Centre for Human Rights, University of PretoriaCourse Date: 4-8 August 2014

Sonke Gender Justice Network, the Gender Unit at the Centre for Human Rights University of Pretoria and the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria are offering the “The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality” short course to increase the capacity of organisations and individuals to lead gender justice programmes that engage men and boys as partners and agents of change within a feminist framework. [Read More]

Inter Press Service News AgencyPollution, not disease, is the biggest killer in the developing world, taking the lives of more than 8.4 million people each year, a new analysis shows. That’s almost three times the deaths caused by malaria and fourteen times those caused by HIV/AIDs. However, pollution receives a fraction of the interest from the global community. [Read More]

IRINScientific advances in human biology may soon have a profound bearing on the policies that governments and organizations adopt towards young mothers, caregivers and babies in poor and stressed communities.

DevexThe international community has struggled to deliver when it comes to nutrition, but the issue is gaining unprecedented traction, and aid donors are looking for ways to take advantage of that new momentum.The U.S. Agency for International Development’s new “multi-sectoral nutrition strategy” will allow the agency to combine resources from a variety of initiatives and program areas to tackle malnutrition and childhood “stunting” like never before, said Richard Greene, senior deputy assistant to the USAID administrator.

JhpiegoThis three-part webinar seeks to strengthen the ties among those working to create and deploy maternal and newborn health (MNH) technologies – from ideation through implementation and everything in between – to initiate a dialogue around what is required to accelerate the scale of emerging innovations and better inform the design of those still to come.

WHO, UNFA, International Confederation of MidwivesA report released today by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund together with the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), WHO and partners reveals that major deficits in the midwifery workforce occur in 73 countries where these services are most desperately needed. The report recommends new strategies to address these deficits and save millions of lives of women and newborns.

African Strategies for Health

This publication was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under contract number AID-OAA-C-11-00161. The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.